Volusia officials may look at law protecting gay rights

There is no federal, state, or Volusia County law that specifically prohibits a company from firing an employee because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.

But that could change soon.

The Volusia County Council plans to schedule a discussion, probably for one of its March meetings, of a human-rights ordinance similar to one enacted in Orange County in November. That law bars discrimination -- in both the public and private sectors -- based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and gives victims of such discrimination a legal method of recourse.

No federal or state law protects gays, lesbians or transgender people from discrimination, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and a Florida gay rights advocacy group. But many Florida cities and counties have enacted laws similar to the Orange County ordinance.

Councilman Josh Wagner brought the idea up late in Thursday's County Council meeting, and his peers agreed to put a discussion of a potential ordinance on an agenda for an upcoming meeting.

"Discrimination should be against the law; that's what makes this country great," Wagner said Friday. "This is an area that I believe there's still discrimination, and we need to address it."

The ordinance Orange County's commission approved was modeled on a law Leon County passed last May. Both laws are intended to deter discrimination in the workplace, in the housing market, and in public places like restaurants, and create a "cause of action" -- a way for possible victims of discrimination to sue in civil court, with the potential to win monetary damages.

"It's a really strong way to deal with it, with very minimal fiscal impact on the government," explained Joe Saunders, state field director for Equality Florida, a nonprofit organization that lobbies for equal rights for Florida's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

The only potential cost of implementing the ordinance to the county, according to Saunders, would be an added caseload for county civil courts. That didn't deter Orange and Leon counties from passing the ordinances last year, though, and Wagner said it wouldn't deter him.

"If people are being discriminated against, that's why we have courts. If it gets too busy, then we need more judges," he said.

Volusia County Attorney Dan Eckert told the council Thursday night that he needed to research the legality of the council creating a "cause of action," and would have an answer by the time the ordinance comes back for discussion.

While the passage of Orange County's ordinance was relatively easy -- not one member of the public spoke against it before the vote, and it passed by a 6-1 margin -- the law faced stiffer opposition in Leon County.

Commissioners there received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls in the days leading up to the May 11 vote, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The newspaper also reported an airplane flew over the state capital the day of the vote dragging a banner that warned two commissioners up for re-election that if they voted for the ordinance, they'd be voted out of office. One commissioner asked police to provide additional security the day of the vote.

The ordinance ultimately passed by a 5-2 margin.

The Florida Family Policy Council, an organization that advocates conservative social values, did not comment on Volusia's proposed ordinance when contacted this week. A council representative wrote the Democrat last year criticizing Leon County's ordinance, though, "because it creates a special class of rights and protections for individuals based not upon immutable characteristics but upon self-identification with certain sexual activities."

There was little reaction from the other Volusia council members when Wagner brought up the issue Thursday, other than to approve discussing it further in the future. Councilwoman Joie Alexander did ask, "If there does not appear to be a problem right now . . . I guess I wonder, what are we trying to fix?"

Alexander clarified after the meeting that she doesn't know much about the ordinance, and needs to do some research before the council discusses it. Chairman Frank Bruno said he would try to schedule a discussion of the ordinance for either the March 3 or March 17 meeting.

The Williams Institute, a Los Angeles think tank that studies sexual orientation law and public policy, found more than 30 reported instances of alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity among Florida's public employees in a 2009 analysis.

Saunders noted that Orlando was home to a high-profile story of alleged discrimination in the private sector in 2009, when the manager of a McDonald's restaurant allegedly turned away a transgender applicant, a 17-year-old boy living as a girl.

McDonald's later fired the manager, citing its company anti-discrimination policy.

"It's a real problem," Saunders said. "Without these protections in place, people don't even have to hide in nuance. They know it's perfectly legal."

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